


Horsing Around

by SomeSleepySloth



Series: Mini-Soulmates [3]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alec Lightwood Deserves Nice Things, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Birthday Fluff, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, M/M, Malec Discord Server, Soulmates, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-13
Updated: 2020-09-13
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:01:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,684
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26437639
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SomeSleepySloth/pseuds/SomeSleepySloth
Summary: An account of how Alec Lightwood's birthday celebration goes
Relationships: Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood
Series: Mini-Soulmates [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1916764
Comments: 15
Kudos: 170
Collections: Mini soulmates





	Horsing Around

**Author's Note:**

> Beta'd by the wonderful [AceOnIce](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AceOnIce/pseuds/AceOnIce)
> 
> Happy (belated) Birthday Alec Lightwood.

_ BOOP. _

Alec wrinkles his nose in annoyance and turns to his side to avoid another nose boop. But the persistent hand comes back for a second boop. He reaches out to swat the hand away. Waking up beside Magnus for the past few weeks means that Alec is used to waking up with a hand in his face, sometimes it’s a gentle caress of his cheeks, other times it is a cheeky tweak of his nose. Except this hand is much… smaller and uh… furrier than normal? 

He twists around in bed, expecting to be greeted by Magnus, but as he sweeps his hands across the cold silk sheets, bereft of the warlock’s body heat, Alec frowns,  _ did Magnus abandon him on his birthday? _ He knows he isn’t one who insists on massive celebrations, but he is certain he has mentioned his birth date to his boyfriend at least once or twice. Did Magnus not remember? Then the nose-attacker strikes for the third time.

When Alec peers up to identify the culprit, he nearly falls off the bed as he bursts out into hysterical laughter, because the scene before him is  _ priceless _ . Mini-Magnus is clad in a tiny knight suit, complete with a sword (which Alec hopes is a prop one for safety reasons), sat on top of Chairman Meow, as if the Chairman was his loyal steed in battle. And if that wasn’t hilarious enough, Magnus had also placed a birthday party hat on the Chairman’s head, the colourful hat with the words ‘Happy Birthday’ cheerfully emblazoned across it, a delightful contrast to the Chairman’s grumpy face.

The minute mini-Magnus dismounts from his ‘steed’, the cat darts out of the room like a bat out of hell, not that Alec can blame it. Mini-Magnus staggers across the pillow, over to his favourite spot, snuggling into the crook of Alec’s neck as he hands over a rolled-up note. Alec reaches up to pat his mini soulmate, as he unfurls the note.

_ Darling Alexander, _

_ Happy 20th birthday. I wish I could have served you breakfast in bed on this first birthday that we get to celebrate together. But alas, duty calls, I have been asked to deal with an emergency. Please know that I would not have left if it weren’t for the fact that this situation requires my immediate attention. While there is no breakfast in bed, I have left breakfast on the dining table for you to enjoy. I will be back by dinner, whereupon our birthday celebrations will commence. I love you, and happy birthday once again! _

_ Yours, Magnus. _

_ Well. _ Alec exhales in disappointment; he had initially planned for a lazy morning. He had even taken leave for today. But since those morning and afternoon plans have been dashed, maybe he will pop by the Institute. Alec recalls that his siblings aren’t out on patrol today- maybe they could grab lunch together.

  
~~~

As Alec walks into the Institute, he passes by a few Shadowhunters who wish him a ‘Happy Birthday’. Alec makes sure to thank them with a smile on his face, because he did appreciate that his subordinates actually remembered his birthday. He finally locates Izzy at the morgue, examining the corpse of a demon they had found yesterday. 

Mini-Simon is deposited on the tray of tools beside Izzy, and if Alec were to guess, mini-Simon is probably using the scalpel as a guitar, silently rocking out like a bloody rock star. Not that Alec really cares, nor knows what goes on in mini-Simon’s mind. He already has trouble figuring out what the actual Simon is doing more than half of the time.

Knowing better than to disturb his sister when she is in one of her ‘zones’, Alec leans against the door, content to observe her work. Izzy glances up when she finally finishes opening up the ventral body cavity of the corpse, “Hey Alec, happy birthday! I wasn’t expecting to see you today, weren’t you supposed to spend the day with Magnus?”

Upon hearing the word Magnus, mini-Magnus pokes his head out from where he had been sitting in Alec’s nest of hair to wave happily at Izzy, who laughs in response. “Hi mini-Magnus. But I was asking about the other Magnus?”

Shrugging his shoulders, Alec replies, “Had an emergency, he says he will be back by dinner. So I came by to see if you wanted to grab lunch?”

Izzy winces at that answer, “Tough luck. But my afternoon is free. Give me five minutes to wrap up here? I’ll meet you by the entrance. Jace is in his room by the way.”

“See you then!” As Alec strolls down the familiar hallway leading to the Shadowhunters’ bedrooms, a sense of happiness washes over him. This was a path he had navigated for over nineteen years, trudging back to his room after a long day at work, but in the past few weeks, he hasn’t had to step foot on this path. Because he has moved into Magnus’ loft. It makes him giddy with joy sometimes, because it feels good to think of Magnus’ loft as  _ Magnus’ and Alec’s  _ loft, because it is  _ theirs _ now,  _ their home _ .

Jace is poring over a Rune Textbook, while mini-Clary is doodling tiny runes on the margins of the page. Runes that Alec doesn’t seem to recognise…  _ huh, maybe it is time to refresh my rune knowledge, because I am certain that I have never seen those before,  _ Alec thinks to himself. 

“Hey Jace. Do my eyes deceive me, or are you actually reading?” Alec asks with playful sarcasm.

“Happy Birthday and piss off, old man,” Jace grumbles back, “what brings you by anyway? I thought you were spending the day with Magnus?”

“Emergency consultation,” Alec waves a hand dismissively, as he continues to study the unknown runes, “So I came by to ask if you wanted to do lunch? Izzy’s said yes already.”

Nodding his head to indicate his agreement, Jace slams the textbook shut and grabs his coat. He shoves mini-Clary into his pocket none too gently, apologising when she shoots him a dark glare.

~~~

They decide on a Chinese restaurant just around the corner from the Institute, ordering enough to feed an army. When their food is finally served, Alec is excited to dig in. But before he begins eating, he makes sure to cut the bite-sized orange chicken chunks into even smaller pieces. The mini-soulmates don’t require food for sustenance like their counterparts do, but it’s a habit that Alec had picked up when he was a child. On days when he was feeling mischievous, he’d sneak down into the kitchen and lower mini-Magnus into the cookie jar to retrieve a cookie. Alec would then proceed to stuff his face with his stolen treat. 

Until the day he saw mini-Magnus staring forlornly at the cookie Alec was gripping tightly in his chubby hands. Alec had berated himself for not thinking to share his cookie, he was such a terrible soulmate! He should have shared his cookie with his mini soulmate, sharing is caring, that’s what his mother had said. He hurriedly broke off a chunk of his chocolate chip cookie and pressed it into mini-Magnus hands. The look of startled joy on mini-Magnus’ face helped assuage Alec’s guilt at having been such an awful soulmate who had neglected to split his loot with his mini-soulmate. Since then, it had become a habit for Alec to share his food with mini-Magnus.

Alec taps the side of his plate to catch mini-Magnus’ attention. The tiny warlock perks up at the sight of the piping hot chicken and gleefully slides down Alec’s arm to park himself by Alec’s plate, before reaching out with his tiny fists to grab the chicken, munching on it happily.

~~~

After a quick tussle over the bill at lunch ( _ Alec, you are most certainly not paying for your birthday lunch,  _ Izzy hissed, waving her fork in his face threateningly), the siblings stroll back to the Institute. As much as Alec is upset about not getting to spend his birthday with his boyfriend, it had been a while since the Lightwood siblings had managed to get together for a meal. He makes a mental note to be more present in the future.

“Ah fuck, I forgot, Clary’s asked me to grab a sketchbook for her,” Jace pipes up suddenly, raking his fingers through his blond hair in frustration, “I’ve got to make a detour, you guys go on ahead, I’ll meet you back at the Institute.”

Alec nods, waves goodbye to his Parabatai, and continues his walk back with Izzy, when they stumble upon a street market, filled with a variety of stalls, hawking various goods, ranging from food, to vintage clothes, and art pieces. There appears to be quite the international spread of cuisine available, and when Alec spots a Thai food stall run by a friendly Thai grandmother, he resolves to bring Magnus here in the future. Magnus does love Asian cuisine, Indonesian is his favourite with it being part of his heritage, but Thai comes a close second. Alec knows better than to stand between Magnus and Pad Kra Pao, or at least, his knuckles know better.

Towards the end of the stretch of stalls, there is a small jewellery stall tucked away in a corner. Izzy immediately makes a beeline for it, and Alec dutifully follows his sister. The young lady running the stall greets them cheerfully, “Hello, welcome! take a look around, feel free to ask any questions!” She informs them that all the jewellery on display is handmade by herself and her wife, both of whom had started the business fresh out of college, and Alec can’t help but smile at her enthusiasm for her craft.

While Izzy is browsing through the earrings, Alec catches sight of the ring stand. It has been a while since he last surprised Magnus with a present, maybe it is time to rectify that. After ten minutes, Alec has finally narrowed down his choices down to two rings, the first a silver Mӧbius strip ring, and the second, a rose-gold and black ring with two strips of rose gold sandwiching the black band.

He is mulling over which ring would look better on Magnus’ hand, tempted to just purchase both to avoid making a decision when he feels a tiny jab on his shoulder. Glancing down, he sees mini-Magnus leaning forward precariously attempting to get a better look at both rings. Under the pretext of wanting to take a closer look at the rings, Alec brings both rings up to his mini-soulmate’s eye level. “So, which one do you think Magnus will like better hmm?” he mutters under his breath. Mini-Magnus is usually hidden under a glamour, as most mini-soulmates are when they are out and about, to avoid causing alarm, since Mundanes do not have mini-soulmates. And Alec certainly doesn’t need the stall holder to stare at him weirdly for talking to himself. 

A solemn look falls over mini-Magnus’ face, as he ponders over each choice, before he finally reaches out with his small finger and taps it against the Mӧbius strip ring, with a firm nod of his head. Alec chuckles, “that’s what I thought too, good choice!” Mini-Magnus visibly preens at Alec’s words. 

Alec returns the rose-gold and black ring to the stall holder; he hands over the cash for the Mӧbius strip ring, and declines the plastic bag offered. The minute the siblings are out of sight of the stall owner, Alec hands over the ring to mini-Magnus who hugs and clutches the ring tightly to his chest for the remainder of their journey back to the Institute.

~~~

As Alec steps through the loft door, he feels the familiar wave of magic wash over him, the wards parting to welcome him home. It’s as if the loft is giving him a hug, and he feels the warmth surge through him. The tiny smile he was wearing when he opened the door widens into a full-blown grin when he sees that Magnus is home. He pads towards the kitchen, where Magnus is bustling about, juggling the frying pan while poking at something in the oven. 

Alec knows that Magnus could conjure a Michelin-starred meal with a simple snap of his fingers, he had done so on numerous occasions, giving Alec whatever his stomach desired. Which is why Alec feels his love grow for the man before him at the sight of Magnus slaving over a meal personally. They don’t get to do it often with their busy schedules, and they both know that the food might not be as good as what Magnus summons. But it is the deed, and intention, that Alec loves, that Magnus will eschew the easy way out and willingly slave over the stove, investing the time and effort just to cook a meal for them.

There is soft jazz music playing in the background, and Magnus sways gently to the beat as he sticks the thermometer into the pan. Alec shuffles over to plaster himself against Magnus’ back, wrapping his arms around the shorter man’s torso. He peeks down to see that Magnus has a steak sizzling away in the pan; the smell of rosemary and butter wafts up to hit his nose, nearly making him drool. “Oh hey Alexander, I didn’t hear you come in,” Magnus remarks, as he leans back to place a peck against Alec’s jaw before turning his attention back to the pan. “Happy birthday darling.”

“Thank you,” Alec replies, nosing at Magnus’ neck, causing the warlock to burst out into delightful giggles. Alec smothers his grin at that, he knows all of Magnus’ ticklish spots like the back of his hand, and delights in exploiting that knowledge ruthlessly, especially when the sound of Magnus’ laughter fills the room.

“Stop trying to distract me,” Magnus shoves at Alec’s nose to put some distance between it and his neck. “Unless you want a well-done steak?”

“Surely you wouldn’t do that to me on my birthday?” Alec pouts, as he glances around the kitchen, trying to locate his mini-me. “He’s outside on the balcony, setting up for dinner,” Magnus informs him, answering Alec’s unasked question, “Go on and join him, I’ll be out with dinner soon.”

Alec swoops down to peck Magnus’ cheek before he heads out towards the balcony, which has been transformed from its usual layout. The benches have been pushed to the side, and a square table takes centre stage. Lanterns are hovering around the area, placed strategically to illuminate the balcony, the warm orange light jostling for attention with the yellow moonlight rays.

Mini-Alec is lumbering around the dining table, dragging the forks and knives into their proper place settings. Alec drops down into one of the two chairs around the dining table, and deposits mini-Magnus onto the table. Mini-Magnus scampers across the table, tiny footsteps creating a soft tapping noise against the wooden surface, as he goes to reunite with his counterpart. Once the cutleries have been placed in their correct positions, the mini-soulmates lean against the vase on the table. 

Mini-Magnus excitedly produces the ring that Alec had purchased earlier this afternoon; he had not let it out of his grasp since it was first placed in his hands. Alec smiles when he sees both of the mini-mes running their hands around the ring, patting the smooth surface, with a look of awe on their faces.

Right then, the balcony door slides open, and Magnus steps through, holding two plates in his hands.

“Happy Birthday once again,” Magnus drops a kiss on Alec’s cheek as he places the dinner plate in front of Alec. The Shadowhunter looks down to see the steak and knows that it would slice beautifully with the gentlest touch of his knife to reveal a pink centre, with a hint of red around the edges, exactly how a medium rare steak should be. The steak is accompanied by a generous serving of perfectly salted chips and baked asparagus tips, his ultimate comfort meal. 

Finally done with his study of the plate, Alec looks up and leans across the table to brush his lips against Magnus. “Thank you,” he whispers against Magnus’ lips, because he is so thankful that his amazing boyfriend took the effort and time to prepare this birthday meal for him, despite the emergency he had earlier today. Alec just hopes that Magnus hadn’t run himself ragged just to do this, he hates it when Magnus pushes himself too hard, leaving him exhausted. It’s usually nothing that a good night of rest, with a side of cuddles, wouldn’t fix, but Alec can’t help himself from worrying.

“You are very welcome, birthday boy,” Magnus whispers back, his hand reaching up to fist in Alec’s shirt holding him in place, as he refuses to relinquish his grip of Alec’s lips. It’s a chaste kiss, merely a soft brushing of lips against each other, but the tenderness of it fills Alec’s heart with love for this man before him. He feels the weariness of the day evaporate now that he has his boyfriend in his arms again.

Alec sweeps his tongue against Magnus’ bottom lip, savouring the sweet taste of his cherry lip gloss, he is lost in the feeling of it, tongue swiping across the soft lip again, when  _ OUCH.  _ He jerks back in shock at the nip on his tongue, he shoots Magnus a wounded look, only to see a mischievous glint in Magnus’ eyes. He narrows his eyes at his boyfriend, “Did you just  _ bite _ me?”

“Dinner’s getting cold, lover boy.” Magnus teases in a singsong voice. And all Alec can do is shake his head fondly, as he settles back into his seat and starts on dinner.

The candles in the lantern burn out slowly, as they swap tales about how their day went. Alec listens to Magnus rant about how he had been roused from bed at five in the morning, and was run ragged trying to contain his client, who had ingested an incorrectly made potion and ended up with arms sprouting out of his head, which he didn’t appear to exert any control over.

When Alec relates how his lunch with his siblings went, his boyfriend reaches across the table to grip his hand, “I’m sorry that I couldn’t be there for you today,” Magnus apologises, a frown settling on his face. Alec rushes to reassure Magnus, “No Magnus, you were busy, I understand. And we are having dinner now, this is the best birthday I could have asked for.” He puts down his fork to squeeze Magnus’ hand comfortingly.

By the time they finish their dinner, the candles have burnt out and the balcony is lit only by the moon’s rays. Magnus sends the dishes to their kitchen with a wave of his hands. “So present time!” Magnus rubs his hands in glee, like a child at Christmas. 

“Oh! Speaking of presents, I have something for you!” Alec pipes up, sending a nod towards their mini-mes; they toddle over to Magnus and present him with the ring that Alec had bought earlier today.

“Alexander, it’s your birthday, you are the one who is meant to be getting presents,” Magnus chastises, while slipping the ring onto his index finger. The smile tugging at the corners of his lips belie his words, as he thumbs at the ring. 

“Ah, I saw it while I was out with Jace and Izzy and thought of you,” Alec shrugs his shoulders because he isn’t sure if he should apologise for getting Magnus a gift today. 

“I love it Alexander, thank you,” Magnus replies sincerely, eyes crinkling as he allows the smile to widen on his face. “But now, it is my turn for presents!” Magnus snaps his fingers and two wrapped boxes appear on the table, one significantly bigger than the other.

When Alec raises an inquisitive eyebrow, all Magnus says is, “Well, if it’s adult-Alec’s birthday, then it’s mini-Alec’s birthday too,” as he gestures towards where their mini-mes are falling asleep against the flower vase. Alec slides the smaller box towards their mini-mes who stumble to their feet and excitedly tear at the ribbon around the box.

They shove the box lid to reveal a small bow and arrow set nestled in it, a miniature of Alec’s own bow currently sitting on a rack in the living room. Mini-Alec slides his hands reverently over the bow and sends a bright smile at Magnus, before both mini-Alec and Magnus attempt to figure out the bow.

“Now it’s your turn,” Magnus slides the box closer to Alec.  _ Oh.  _ Alec shakes his head, he was so caught up in the thoughtfulness of Magnus preparing such an amazing gift for mini-Alec that he had forgotten about his own gift. With a tug, the ribbon falls apart easily. Their mini-mes abandon their bow set, and wander across the table to see what Alec’s present is.

Alec lifts the lid to see three items inside - a jacket, a plain glass bottle with a brown liquid inside, and a key. He reaches inside the box to retrieve the three items; Magnus waves his hand to make the box disappear once it has been emptied.

At Magnus’ gesture, Alec removes his blazer, and shrugs his new jacket on; the leather is buttery soft, and it fits perfectly and snugly around his body. But there is something about this jacket that feels… different, a good sort of different... Alec tilts his head in confusion, trying to put his finger on it.

“It’s my magic,” Magnus explains, when he spots Alec’s furrowed brows, “I have layered it with some protection spells, you will still need to activate your runes in battle, but this will offer you an extra layer of protection.” 

_ Ah. _ No wonder it felt so familiar. In the early days of their relationship, Magnus’ magic would buzz around Alec, who was still unaccustomed to being in such close proximity to a magic wielder. He knew that Magnus wouldn’t hurt him, but the thrum of magic at the back of his mind still took some getting used to. But now, Magnus’ magic feels like a comforting presence, it is everywhere in the loft, the traces of magic lingering long after the spells have been cast. Even when Magnus isn’t there to welcome him home, the magic swirling in the loft reminds Alec that Magnus will be home soon. And now Alec seeks out Magnus’ magic, always eager to observe the warlock casting his spells. 

“Thank you Magnus,” Alec breathes out, snuggling deeper into his jacket, as he picks up the glass bottle. He takes a cautious sniff; Alec doesn’t need an explanation for what this item is, because he recognises it. Lifting the bottle up, the scent of sandalwood hits his nose, and he takes a deep inhale, his eyes fluttering close at the richness of the creamy scent.

He had begged Magnus for a bottle of that shampoo the first time he had stayed over, and all Magnus had given him was a cryptic, “someday maybe”, with a sly grin. Looks like his boyfriend was saving it up for his birthday. The mini-soulmates take a wary sniff of the bottle when Alec places it back down on the table, and if the blissful smiles on their faces are anything to go by, it seems like they are as big a fan of the sandalwood shampoo as Alec is. 

Although Alec feels that it definitely pales in comparison to the smell of Magnus combined with sandalwood. Because the fragrance of the cologne he always wore, the cloying scent of the sandalwood, the smell of potions clinging to Magnus’ clothes, and sometimes the sweat lingering after a hard day at work.  _ Fuck. _ That intoxicating cocktail of smells would drive Alec mad, and he would push his nose into Magnus’ neck, unheeding of Magnus’ flailing attempts to shove his head away. Magnus’ complaints don’t usually last for long, not when Alec follows the nose nuzzles with feathery kisses up the long expanse of his neck.

But the key, that Alec can’t figure out. He already has a key to the loft, although that was merely a symbolic gesture, because their loft is tightly guarded by wards. His warlock maintains a list of who is keyed into the wards. So where does this key lead to?

“It’s for our new room,” his boyfriend informs him.

_ New room? _ Alec knows the layout of the loft by now; potions room, bedroom, kitchen, balcony, and guest bedroom. Was Magnus talking about the guest bedroom?

“Follow me,” Magnus commands as he rises from his chair. He sweeps their mini-mes, one holding the bow, the other holding the quiver of arrows, into his cupped hands and ducks back inside the loft. Alec silently trails after him, the bottle of sandalwood shampoo left behind on the table. He makes a mental note to bring it with him the next time he drops by the Institute; he will probably leave it there for days when he has overnight missions and won’t be able to make it back to the loft.  _ It’s not as if there isn’t a ready supply of it here after all, _ Alec thinks to himself wryly.

~~~

They arrive at a wooden door, and  _ huh _ . Alec is certain that this door didn’t exist when he left the flat this morning. Looks like Magnus had been busy in his absence. “Go on then,” Magnus urges. Alec obligingly slides the key into the lock and pushes the door open gingerly. It swings open to reveal… an office-slash-training room?

He steps across the threshold, and glances around the well-furnished room. “I was going to save this for our anniversary, but since I had the free time today, I pushed the timeline up a little,” Magnus elaborates as he follows after Alec, depositing the mini-mes onto a nearby bookshelf, “anyway, this room is for you.”

Alec gapes in astonishment at that,  _ for him? All this, for him? _

“No need to look so surprised Alexander,” Magnus says, reaching out to intertwine their fingers, tugging Alec towards his side.

“I have my potions room where I sometimes bring work home, and it serves as my own space. This is our home, and I want you to feel at home in it too. So this room will serve as your own space too. It has a few punching bags and dumbbells for you to train with,” Magnus points with his free hand at each feature as he explains them, “there is a rack for you to stow your weapons, an office area for you to work, and -”

And, Alec doesn’t need to hear anymore. Not when there is something more pressing that he needs to do.

He turns to sweep Magnus into his arms, smashing his lips against Magnus’, tongues tangling together. Alec tries to convey the numerous feelings rushing through him right now, the gratitude, the joy, and the love. He hopes that Magnus can feel the outpouring of affection welling up inside of him through the kiss, because he is certain that his mind, which has turned into mush, is not capable of words right now.

When they break apart, Alec leans down to press their foreheads together, feeling the harsh pants of air between them. He is loath to open his eyes, content to soak in the feel of his boyfriend in his arms; he ducks down to press just one more kiss against those soft lips. One more turns to five more, not that either of them seem to mind.

“So I take it that you liked your presents?” Magnus asks softly, eyes fluttering open slowly.

“Liked it?” Alec chuckles, as he rubs his nose against Magnus’ “I love them Magnus. I love them, and I love you. I love you so much, you wonderful man. Thank you for spoiling me on my birthday.”

“You deserve the best. Happy Birthday, Alexander,” Magnus whispers back, as he tilts his head up for another kiss.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for making it to the end of this fic, and I hope you have a great day ahead!


End file.
